Articles tagged black friday
Posted 11 years ago on Nov. 24, 2013, 1:37 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags:
walmart,
black friday,
nationalize wealth
The Walton Family is collectively worth over $150 billion USD. Most of us struggle just to keep $150 dollars in our bank account, so it's hard to comprehend how much money that really is! Yet all of that $150 billion is divided amongst just 16 people. What if we distributed that money to the 2,000,000 global employees of Walmart? Is that too radical? If you don't think those people have earned the money, we could nationalize it instead. The Walmart fortune could be divided amongst the twenty seven countries in which they do business, granting each a settlement of $5.5 billion.
Look at the population of ten areas where you can find Walmart stores:
We are talking about redistributing $150 billion from 16 people to a pool of 2.3 billion people. We're serious. The democratic systems we put in place to protect us from people like the Walton Family have failed. It's time to try radical alternatives. We literally believe that the time has come to take from the rich and give to the poor.
Imagine what we could do if the United States had an immediate windfall of $5.5 Billion. Here are some examples:
Recover the $5 Billion Cut in Funding from the Food Stamps Program
With over 70% of the workforce on food stamps, this would immediately put food in the mouths of women and children who are always the hardest hit.
Or we could...
Quadruple spending for the Small Business Administration From $1.4 Billion to $5.6 Billion
One of the biggest problems in the United States is the support needed for people to start new businesses. Instead of loans, why don’t we just give people money to establish new businesses? The secret to building our communities is not sending in a company from outside, but to invest in the people living there, their skills, their talents. And an added bonus? Generational family groups can stay together and give each other the support that is needed, instead of being separated by economics.
Or we could...
We would finally have the resources to properly take care of our grandparents and treasured elders. We would finally have the resources to support the Americorps volunteer program, and thus, our communities.
Or we could...
Nationalize the Company
What if we just nationalized (in each country that they work) Walmart? Then the only question would be, what would the United States do every year with its share of the $15 Billion in annual profit?
Earlier:
This #BlackFriday Join the #WalmartStrikers on the Front Lines!
Show Your Solidarity While Supporting the #WalmartStrikers
#BlackFriday Practical Protest Techniques: Using Your Body and a Few Simple Tools
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 21, 2012, 5:47 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags:
solidarity,
walmart,
black friday
via Sarah Jaffe:
To make a mess that another person will have to deal with—the dropped socks, the toothpaste sprayed on the bathroom mirror, the dirty dishes left from a late-night snack—is to exert domination in one of its more silent and intimate forms. -Barbara Ehrenreich, in “Made to Order,” an essay from the anthology Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy, co-edited with Arlie Russell Hochschild
[This quote is] relevant to an argument I just had about “disruptive” protest at Walmart in supposed solidarity with the Black Friday strikes. Picket, protest, march and rally all you want, hold a sit-in, but please, before you do things like deliberately create a mess in the store or leave a full cart in the checkout line, consider who’s going to have to clean up the mess that you make. It’s not going to be Rob Walton or any of the other multibillionaires. It won’t even be the assistant manager. It’ll be the same low-wage worker who maybe wanted to go on strike but wasn’t quite convinced, or who was threatened by their boss, who’s working an extra-long shift on the worst shopping day of the year.
Solidarity doesn’t mean you decide for yourself what is best for the workers. It means showing up in the ways they need and want you to and letting them decide how to build worker power.
We ask you to reflect on the statement issued by workers and Making Change at Walmart as you plan your Black Friday solidarity action:
Across the country, Walmart employs 1.4 million people. We are not just the Associates that you see in stores, we are moms and dads, sons and daughters, husbands and wives working hard to support our families.
We have been speaking out for good jobs with decent pay, regular hours, affordable healthcare and respect, but instead of working with us to make changes, Walmart has attempted to silence us and has retaliated against us for speaking out. Our jobs have been threatened, our hours cut, our schedules changed. Some of us have even been fired.
We will not be silenced. Throughout the holiday season, including Black Friday, we will be standing up for an end to the retaliation against workers who speak out for what’s right for our families, our communities and our country, and we hope that you will stand with us. It is not an easy decision, but without an end to the retaliation, Walmart workers across the country will be walking off the job in protest, and we hope you will join us in creative, non-violent action in solidarity with our strike. We ask that supporters take action that spreads the word about our strikes and demonstrates to Walmart a wave of support for workers who are speaking out.
Together, we are calling on Walmart to end the retaliation against hard-working employees who are courageously speaking out for better pay, fair schedules and more hours, affordable health care and respect.
We will not be silenced until we see real change at Walmart.
Sincerely,
OUR Walmart Workers
editors note: please consider supporting the Walmart Strikers Food Fund
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 17, 2012, 1:50 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags:
labor,
boycott,
donate,
walmart,
black friday
Support the Walmart Black Friday Strikers!
It's time to take a stand and support the workers who are standing up to live better through an unfair labor practice strike.
Walmart workers decided to strike on Black Friday after they were targeted for retaliation for speaking out about substandard work conditions and treatment last month in the first ever walk out in the history of the company.
We ask you to help us feed the workers who will walk out on the company next week on the biggest shopping day of the year.
https://www.wepay.com/donations/walmart-strikers-food-fund
The workers are demanding the following from Walmart:
Improve Workers’ Lives
Pay a minimum of $25,000/year and guarantee quality, affordable health coverage for all Walmart associates and workers in the company’s US distribution chain.
Rebuild Communities
Sign on to a national community benefits agreement that ensures as Walmart expands into new markets, it strengthens communities, protects the environment and is responsible for the well-being of its employees in its retail stores and US supply and distribution chain.
Put Its Promises in Writing
Agree to a global labor agreement guaranteeing the fundamental human right of freedom of association for all of its associates and instruct their suppliers to do the same, and recognize and negotiate with OUR Walmart.
Elevate Global Living Standards
Establish a legally binding global responsible contractor policy requiring contractors and subcontractors to provide living wages, worker safety protections, and respect basic human and labor rights, including freedom of association and freedom from racial and gender discrimination.
How can I support in other ways?
You can join solidarity actions throughout the United States. Find out which solidarity actions are being organized and the store employees that are participating by going to the Corporate Action Network event page.
“The only thing workers have to bargain with is their skill or their labor. Denied the right to withhold it as a last resort, they become powerless. The strike is therefore not a breakdown of collective bargaining-it is the indispensable cornerstone of that process." -- Paul Clark
Click here and support the Walmart Black Friday strikers today!
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